Inter's home games are played at the San Siro stadium (cap. 80,018), also known as the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Shared with rivals A.C. Milan, the stadium is the largest in Italian football.[10] The local team A.C. Milan are considered among their biggest rivals, and matches between the two teams, known as the Derby della Madonnina, are one of the most followed derbies in football.[11] As of 2010, Inter is the second-most supported team in Italy,[12] and the sixth most-supported team in Europe.[nb 1] The club is one of the most valuable in Italian and world football.[15] It was a founding member of the now-defunct G-14 group of Europe's leading football clubs.

"This wonderful night bestows us with the colours of our crest: black and azure against a gilded backdrop of stars. It shall be called International, because we are brothers of the world."

— 9 March 1908, Milan

The club was founded on 9 March 1908 as Football Club Internazionale, following the schism with the Milan Cricket and Football Club (now A.C. Milan). The name of the club derives from the wish of its founding members to accept foreign players as well as Italians.

The club won its very first championship in 1910 and its second in 1920. The captain and coach of the first championship winning team was Virgilio Fossati, who was later killed in battle while serving in the Italian army during World War I.

In 1922 Inter remained in the top league after winning two play-offs. Six years later, during the Fascist era, the club was forced to merge with the Unione Sportiva Milanese and was renamed Società Sportiva Ambrosiana.[17] The team wore white jerseys around this time with a red cross emblazoned on it. The jersey's design was inspired by the flag and coat of arms of the city of Milan. In 1929 the club's president, Oreste Simonotti, changed the club's name to Associazione Sportiva Ambrosiana. However, supporters continued to call the team Inter, and in 1931 new president Pozzani caved in to shareholder pressure and changed the name to Associazione Sportiva Ambrosiana-Inter.

Giuseppe Meazza still holds the record for the most goals scored in a debut season in Serie A, with 31 goals in his first season (1929–30)

Their first Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) was won in 1938–39, led by the iconic Giuseppe Meazza, after whom the San Siro stadium is officially named. A fifth championship followed in 1940, despite Meazza incurring an injury. After the end of World War II the club regained its original name, winning its sixth championship in 1953 and its seventh in 1954.

Grande Inter (1960–1968)

In 1960, manager Helenio Herrera joined Inter from Barcelona, bringing with him his midfield general Luis Suárez, who won the European Footballer of the Year in the same year for his role in Barcelona's La Liga/Fairs Cup double. He would transform Inter into one of the greatest teams in Europe. He modified a 5–3–2 tactic known as the "Verrou" ("door bolt") to include larger flexibility for counterattacks. The catenaccio system was invented by an Austrian coach named Karl Rappan. Rappan's original system was implemented with four fixed defenders, playing a strict man-to-man marking system, plus a playmaker in the middle of the field who plays the ball together with two midfield wings. Herrera would modify it by adding a fifth defenders, the sweeper or libero behind the two centre backs. The sweeper or libero who acted as the free man would deal with any attackers who went through the two centre backs. Inter finished third in the Serie A in his first season, second the next year and first in his third season. Then followed a back-to-back European Cup victory in 1964 and 1965, earning him the title "il Mago" ("the Wizard"). The code of Herrera's team was the attacking fullbacksTarcisio Burgnich and Giacinto Facchetti, Armando Picchi the sweeper, Suárez the playmaker, Jair the winger, Mario Corso the left midfielder, and Sandro Mazzola, who played on the inside-right.

Sandro Mazzola played for the highly successful Inter team remembered by the name of "La Grande Inter", during the 60s

In 1964, Inter reached the European Cup Final by beating Borussia Dortmund in the semifinal and FK Partizan in the quarter-final. In the final, they met Real Madrid, a team that had reached seven out of the nine finals to date. Mazzola scored two goals in a 3–1 victory, and then the team won the Intercontinental Cup against Independiente. A year later, Inter repeated the feat by beating two-time winner Benfica in the final held at home, from a Jair goal, and then again beat Independiente in the Intercontinental Cup.

In 1967, with Jair gone and Suárez injured, Inter lost the European Cup Final 2–1 to Celtic. During that year the club changed its name to Football Club Internazionale Milano.

After Helenio Herrera era (1968–1990)

Following the golden era of the 1960s, Inter managed to win their eleventh league title in 1971 and their twelfth in 1980. Inter were defeated for the second time in five years in the final of the European Cup, going down 0–2 to Johan Cruyff's Ajax in 1972. During the 1970s and the 1980s, Inter also added two to its Coppa Italia tally, in 1977–78 and 1981–82.

Mixed fortunes (1990–2004)

The 1990s was a period of disappointment. While their great rivals Milan and Juventus were achieving success both domestically and in Europe, Inter were left behind, with repeated mediocre results in the domestic league standings, their worst coming in 1993–94 when they finished just one point out of the relegation zone. Nevertheless, they achieved some European success with three UEFA Cup victories in 1991, 1994 and 1998.

With Massimo Moratti's takeover from Ernesto Pellegrini in 1995, Inter twice broke the world record transfer fee in this period (£19.5 million for Ronaldo from Barcelona in 1997 and £31 million for Christian Vieri from Lazio two years later). However, the 1990s remained a decade of disappointment, and is the only decade in Inter's history in which they did not win a single Italian Serie A championship. For Inter fans, it was difficult to find who in particular was to blame for the troubled times and this led to some icy relations between them and the president, the managers and even some individual players.

Moratti later became a target of the fans, especially when he sacked the much-loved coach Luigi Simoni after only a few games into the 1998–99 season, after having just received Italian manager of the year award 1998 the day before being dismissed. That season, Inter failed to qualify for any European competition for the first time in almost ten years, finishing in eighth place.

The following season, Moratti appointed former Juventus manager Marcello Lippi, and signed players such as Angelo Peruzzi and Laurent Blanc together with other former Juventus players Vieri and Vladimir Jugović. The team came close to their first domestic success since 1989 when they reached the Coppa Italia final only to be defeated by Lazio.

During the following season, another disaster struck. Inter impressed in the Supercoppa Italiana match against Lazio and took the lead through new signing Robbie Keane and Hakan Şükür—however, they lost 4–3. They were eliminated in the preliminary round of the Champions League by Swedish club Helsingborgs IF, Álvaro Recoba missing a crucial late penalty. Lippi was sacked after only a single game of the new season following Inter's first ever Serie A defeat to Reggina. Marco Tardelli, chosen to replace Lippi, failed to improve results, and is remembered by Inter fans as the manager that lost 6–0 the city derby to Milan in the 2000–01 season. Other members of the Inter "family" during this period that suffered were the likes of Vieri and Fabio Cannavaro, both of whom had their restaurants in Milan vandalised after defeats against the Rossoneri.

In 2002, not only did Inter manage to make it to the UEFA Cup semi-finals, they were also only 45 minutes away from capturing the Scudetto, when they needed to maintain a one-goal advantage away at over Lazio. Inter were 2–1 up after only 24 minutes. Lazio equalised during first half injury time and then scored two more goals in the second half to clinch victory that eventually saw Juventus win the championship. The next season, Inter finished as league runners-up and also managed to make it to the 2002–03 Champions League semi-finals against Milan, losing on the away goals rule.

Resurrection and recent history (2004–)

Revival (2004–2008)

On 1 July 2004, Inter appointed former Lazio boss Roberto Mancini as its new head coach. In his first season, the team collected 72 points from 18 wins, 18 draws and only two losses, as well as winning the Coppa Italia and later the Supercoppa Italiana. On 11 May 2006, Inter retained their Coppa Italia title once again after defeating Roma with a 4–1 aggregate victory (a 1–1 scoreline in Rome and a 3–1 win at the San Siro).

Inter were awarded the 2005–06 Serie A championship after points were stripped from Juventus and Milan due to the match fixing scandal that year. During the following season, Inter went on a record-breaking run of 17 consecutive victories in Serie A, starting on 25 September 2006 with a 4–1 home victory over Livorno, and ending on 28 February 2007, after a 1–1 draw at home to Udinese. On 22 April 2007, Inter won their second consecutive Scudetto—and first on the field since 1989—when they defeated Siena 2–1 at Stadio Artemio Franchi. ItalianWorld Cup-winning defender Marco Materazzi scored both goals.[18]

Inter started the 2007–08 season with the goal of winning both Serie A and Champions League. The team started well in the league, topping the table from the first round of matches, and also managed to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage. However, a late collapse, leading to a 2–0 defeat with ten men away to Liverpool on 19 February in the Champions League, threw into question manager Roberto Mancini's future at Inter, and domestic form took a sharp turn of fortune with the team failing to win in the three following Serie A games. After being eliminated by Liverpool in the Champions League, Mancini then announced his intention to leave his job, only to change his mind the following day. On the final day of the 2007–08 Serie A season, Inter played Parma away, and two goals from Zlatan Ibrahimović sealed their third consecutive championship. Mancini, however, was sacked soon after due to his previous announcement to leave the club.[19]

Mourinho and the first Treble (2008–2010)

On 2 June 2008, Inter appointed former Porto and Chelsea boss José Mourinho as new head coach.[20] In his first season, the Nerazzurri won a Suppercoppa Italiana and a fourth consecutive title, though falling in the Champions League in the first knockout round for a third-straight year, losing to eventual finalist Manchester United. In winning the league title for the fourth consecutive time, Inter joined Torino and Juventus as the only teams to do this and the first to accomplish this feat in the last 60 years and outside of Turin.

Decline and changes in ownership (2010–)

On 21 August 2010, Inter defeated Roma 3–1 and won the 2010 Supercoppa Italiana, their fourth trophy of the year. In December 2010, they claimed the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time after a 3–0 win against TP Mazembe in the final.[24] Inter thus completed Quintuple, becoming the fourth team in the world to do so, after Liverpool in 2001, Al-Ahly in 2006 and Barcelona in 2009. However, after this win, on 23 December 2010, due to his poor performance in Serie A and separated by 13 points from the leader Milan (although Inter played two games less, because of the FIFA Club World Cup appointment), the team announced Benítez's departure.[25] He was replaced by Leonardo the following day.[26]

Inter lining up before a Champions League match against PFC CSKA Moscow on 27 September 2011

Leonardo started with 30 points from 12 games, with an average of 2.5 points per game, better than his predecessors Benítez and Mourinho. On 6 March 2011, Leonardo set a new Italian Serie A record by collecting 33 points in 13 games; the previous record was 32 points in 13 games made by Fabio Capello in the 2004–05 season. Leonardo led the club to the quarter-finals of the Champions League before losing to Schalke 04, and leading them to Coppa Italia title. At the end of the season, however, he resigned and was followed by not-so-successful new managers Gian Piero Gasperini, Claudio Ranieri and Andrea Stramaccioni.

On 1 August 2012, Moratti sold a minority interests of Inter Milan to a Chinese consortium led by Kenneth Huang.[27] On the same day, Inter announced an agreement was formed with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited for a new stadium project.[27] On 30 June 2013, Moratti's Internazionale Holding S.r.l. held 98.2% shares of F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A.; the deal with the Chinese apparently collapsed.[28]Walter Mazzarri was also appointed to replace Stramaccioni on 24 May 2013. 2012–13 season was the worst in recent club history with 9th in Serie A and failed to qualify to European competitions.

During Thohir era the club mainly refinancing itself from sugar daddy model to self sustain business model, with the club still breaching UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations in 2015. The club was fined and received squad reduction in UEFA competitions, with additional penalties suspended in the probation period. Roberto Mancini also returned as coach on 14 November 2014.

On 6 June 2016 Suning Sports (via a Luxembourg-based company Great Horizon S.á r.l.), a joint venture of Suning Holdings Group and Suning Appliance Group (both partially or wholly owned by Zhang Jindong, co-founder and chairman of Suning Commerce Group), purchased the majority stake of Inter Milan from Thohir's consortium International Sports Capital S.p.A. and from Moratti family's Internazionale Holding S.r.l..[35] According to their official blog, the price was about €270 million, including a subscription of a capital increase of Inter Milan.

However, the first season of new ownership started with poor performance in pre-season friendlies. On 8 August 2016 Inter parted company with head coach Roberto Mancini by mutual agreement.[36] He was replaced by Frank de Boer who was sacked on 1 November, 2016 after leading Inter to a 4W-2D-5L record in 11 Serie A games as the head coach.[37]

Colours and badge

S.S. Ambrosiana kit

One of the founders of Inter, a painter named Giorgio Muggiani, was responsible for the design of the first Inter logo in 1908. The first design incorporated the letters "FCIM" in the centre of a series of circles that formed the badge of the club. The basic elements of the design have remained constant even as finer details have been modified over the years. Starting at the 1999–00 season, the original club crest was reduced in size, to give place for the addition of the club's name and foundation year at the upper and lower part of the logo respectively.

In 2007, the logo was returned to the pre-1999–2000 era. It was given a more modern look with smaller Scudetto star and lighter color scheme. This version was used until July 2014, when the club decided to undertake a rebranding.[38] The most significant difference between the current and the previous logo is the omission of the star from other media except match kits.[39]

Since its founding in 1908, Inter have worn black and blue stripes. It is rumoured that black was chosen to represent night and blue was chosen to represent the sky.[40] Aside from a short period during World War II, Inter continued to wear the black and blue stripes, earning them the nickname Nerazzurri.[41] For a period of time, however, Inter was forced to abandon their black and blue uniforms. In 1928, Inter's name and philosophy made the ruling Fascist Party uneasy. As a result, during the same year the 20-year-old club was merged with Unione Sportiva Milanese. The new club was named Società Sportiva Ambrosiana after the patron saint of Milan.[42] The flag of Milan (the red cross on white background) replaced the traditional black and blue.[43] After World War II, when the Fascists had fallen from power, the club reverted to their original name and colours. In 2008, Inter celebrated their centenary with a red cross on their away shirt. The cross is reminiscent of the flag of their city, and they continue to use the pattern on their third kit. In 2014 the club adopted a predominantly black home kit with thin blue pinstripes before returning to a more traditional design the following season.[44]

Animals are often used to represent football clubs in Italy—the grass snake, called Il biscione or Serpente, represents Inter. The snake is an important symbol for the city of Milan, appearing often in Milanese heraldry as a coiled viper with a man in its jaws. The symbol is famous for its presence on the coat of arms of the House of Sforza (which ruled over Italy from Milan during the Renaissance period), the city of Milan, the historical Duchy of Milan (a 400-year state of the Holy Roman Empire) and Insubria (a historical region the city of Milan falls within). For the 2010–11 season, Inter's away kit featured the serpent.

The team's stadium is the 80,018 seat San Siro, officially known as the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after the former player who represented both Milan and Inter. The more commonly used name, San Siro, is the name of the district where it is located. San Siro has been the home of Milan since 1926, when it was privately built by funding from Milan's president at the time, Piero Pirelli. Construction was performed by 120 workers, and took 13 and a half months to complete. The stadium was owned by the club until it was sold to the city council in 1935, and since 1947 it has been shared with Inter, when they were accepted as joint tenant.

The first game played at the stadium was on 19 September 1926, when Inter beat Milan 6–3 in a friendly match. Milan played its first league game in San Siro on 19 September 1926, losing 1–2 to Sampierdarenese. From an initial capacity of 35,000 spectators, the stadium has undergone several major renovations, most recently in preparation for the 1990 FIFA World Cup when its capacity was set to 85,700, all covered with a polycarbonate roof. In the summer of 2008, its capacity was reduced to 80,018 to meet the new standards set by UEFA.

Based on the English model for stadiums, San Siro is specifically designed for football matches, as opposed to many multi-purpose stadiums used in Serie A. It is therefore renowned in Italy for its fantastic atmosphere during matches owing to the closeness of the stands to the pitch. The frequent use of flares by supporters contributes to the atmosphere, but the practice has occasionally also caused problems.

Supporters and rivalries

Inter is one of the most supported clubs in Italy, according to an August 2007 research by Italian newspaper La Repubblica.[45] Historically, the largest section of Inter fans from the city of Milan were the middle-classbourgeoisie Milanese, while Milan fans were typically working-class.[41]

The traditional ultras group of Inter is Boys San; they hold a significant place in the history of the ultras scene in general due to the fact that they are one of the oldest, being founded in 1969. Politically, the ultras of Inter are usually considered right-wing and they have good relationships with the Lazio ultras. As well as the main group of Boys San, there are four more significant groups: Viking, Irriducibili, Ultras, and Brianza Alcoolica.

Inter's most vocal fans are known to gather in the Curva Nord, or north curve of the Giuseppe Meazza stadium. This longstanding tradition has led to the Curva Nord being synonymous with the club's most die-hard supporters, who unfurl banners and wave flags in support of their team.

Inter have several rivalries, two of which are highly significant in Italian football; firstly, they participate in the intra city Derby della Madonnina with Milan; the rivalry has existed ever since Inter splintered off from Milan in 1908.[41] The name of the derby refers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose statue atop the Milan Cathedral is one of the city's main attractions. The match usually creates a lively atmosphere, with numerous (often humorous or offensive) banners unfolded before the match. Flares are commonly present, but they also led to the abandonment of the second leg of the 2004–05 Champions League quarter-final matchup between Milan and Inter on 12 April after a flare thrown from the crowd by an Inter supporter struck Milan keeper Dida on the shoulder.[46]

The other most significant rivalry is with Juventus; the two participate in the Derby d'Italia. Up until the 2006 Italian football scandal, which saw Juventus relegated, the two were the only Italian clubs to have never played below Serie A. In recent years, post-Calciopoli, Inter have developed a rivalry with Roma, having finished runners-up to Inter in all but one of Inter's five Scudetto winning seasons between 2005 and 2010. The two sides have also contested in 5 Coppa Italia finals and four Supercoppa Italiana finals since 2006. Other clubs, like Atalanta and Napoli, are also considered amongst their rivals.[47] Their supporters collectively go by Interisti, or Nerazzurri.[48]

Retired numbers

3 – Giacinto Facchetti, left back, 1960–1978 (posthumous honour). The number was retired on 8 September 2006. The last player to wear the shirt was Argentinian center back Nicolás Burdisso, who took on the number 16 shirt for the rest of the season.[50]

Corporate

F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A. was described as one of the financial "black-holes" among the Italian clubs, which was heavily dependent on the financial contribution from the owner Massimo Moratti. In June 2006, the shirt sponsor and the minority shareholder of the club, Pirelli, sold 15.26% shares of the club to Moratti family, for €13.5 million. The tyre manufacturer retained 4.2%.[57] However, due to several capital increases of Inter, such as a reversed merger with an intermediate holding company, Inter Capital Srl in 2006, which held 89% shares of Inter and €70 million capitals at that time, or issues new shares for €70.8 million in June 2007,[58] €99.9 million in December 2007,[59] €86.6 million in 2008,[60] €70 million in 2009,[61][62] €40 million in 2010 and 2011,[63][64][65][66] €35 million in 2012[28][67] or allowing Thoir subscribed €75 million new shares of Inter in 2013, Pirelli became the third largest shareholders of just 0.5%, as of 31 December 2015.[4] Inter also received direct capital contribution from the shareholders to cover loss which was excluded from issuing shares. (Italian: versamenti a copertura perdite)

Right before the takeover of Thohir, the consolidated balance sheets of "Internazionale Holding S.r.l." showed the whole companies group had a bank debt of €156.688 million, including the bank debt of a subsidiary "Inter Brand Srl", as well as the club itself, to Istituto per il Credito Sportivo (ICS), for €15.674 million on the balance sheet at end of 2012–13 financial year.[68] In 2006 Inter sold its brand to the new subsidiary, "Inter Brand S.r.l.", a special purpose entity with a shares capital of €40 million, for €158 million (the deal made Internazionale make a net loss of just €31 million in a separate financial statement[69][70]). At the same time the subsidiary secured a €120 million loan from Banca Antonveneta,[71] which would be repaid in installments until 30 June 2016;[72] In September 2011 Inter secured a loan from ICS by factoring the sponsorship of Pirelli of 2012–13 and 2013–14 season, for €24.8 million, in an interest rate of 3 months Euribor + 1.95% spread.[65] In June 2014 new Inter Group secured €230 million loan from Goldman Sachs and UniCredit at a new interest rate of 3 months Euribor + 5.5% spread, as well as setting up a new subsidiary to be the debt carrier: "Inter Media and Communication S.r.l.". €200 million of which would be utilized in debt refinancing of the group. The €230million loan, €1 million (plus interests) would be due on 30 June 2015, €45 million (plus interests) would be repaid in 15 installments from 30 September 2015 to 31 March 2019, as well as €184 million (plus interests) would be due on 30 June 2019.[32] In ownership side, the Hong Kong-based International Sports Capital HK Limited, had pledged the shares of Italy-based International Sports Capital S.p.A. (the direct holding company of Inter) to CPPIB Credit Investments for €170 million in 2015, at an interest rate of 8% p.a (due March 2018) to 15% p.a. (due March 2020).[73] ISC repaid the notes on 1 July 2016 after they sold part of the stake to Suning Holdings Group.

Considering revenue alone, Inter surpassed city rivals in Deloitte Football Money League for the first time, in the 2008–09 season, to rank in 9th place, one place behind Juventus in 8th place. (Milan in 10th place.)[74] In the 2009–10 season, Inter remained in 9th place, surpassing Juventus (10th) but Milan re-took the leading role as the 7th. Inter became the 8th in 2010–11, but was still one place behind Milan. Since 2011, Inter fell to 11th in 2011–12, 15th in 2012–13 and 17th in 2013–14 season. In 2008–09 season, Revenue percentages were divided up between matchday (14%, €28.2 million), broadcasting (59%, €115.7 million, +7%, +€8 million) and commercial (27%, €52.6 million, +43%). Kit sponsors Nike and Pirelli contributed €18.1 million and €9.3 million respectively to commercial revenues, while broadcasting revenues were boosted €1.6 million (6%) by Champions League distribution.[citation needed] in 2009–10 season the revenue was boosted by the sales of Ibrahimović, the treble and the release clause of coach José Mourinho.[75] For the 2010–11 season, Serie A clubs started negotiating club TV rights collectively rather than individually. This was predicted to result in lower broadcasting revenues for Inter, with smaller clubs gaining from the loss. Eventually the result included an extraordinary income of €13 million from RAI. Deloitte expressed the idea that issues in Italian football, particularly matchday revenue issues were holding Inter back compared to other European giants, and developing their own stadia would result in Serie A clubs being more competitive on the world stage.[76]

However, combining revenue and cost, in the 2006–07 season they had a net loss of €206 million[59][77] (€112 million extraordinary basis, due the abolish of non-standard accounting practice of the special amortization fund), followed by €148 million in the 2007–08 season,[60] €154 million in 2008–09 season,[61][62] €69 million in the 2009–10 season,[64][75] €87 million in the 2010–11 season,[63][66] €77 million in the 2011–12 season.[65]

In 2015 Inter and Roma were the only two Italian clubs that were sanctioned by the UEFA due to their breaking of UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations.[78] As a probation to avoid further sanction, Inter agreed to have a three-year aggregate break-even from 2015 to 2018, with the 2015–16 season being allowed to have a net loss of a maximum of €30 million, followed by break-even in the 2016–17 season. Inter was also fined €6 million plus an additional €14 million in probation. Inter also made a financial trick in the transfer market, in which Stevan Jovetić and Miranda were signed by Inter on a temporary deal plus an obligation to sign outright in 2017, making their cost less in the loan period.[3] Moreover, despite heavily invested in new signings, namely Geoffrey Kondogbia and Ivan Perišić that potentially increased the cost in amortization, Inter also sold Mateo Kovačić for €29 million, making a windfall profit.[3]

*write-down of €112 million special amortization fund was included
**€72.596 million increase due to the reversed merger with Inter Capital S.r.l.[80] was excluded
***€2.335 million Increase due to adjustment in fair value of Angelo Moratti Sports Centre was excluded
****extraordinarily income of €139.294 million was included
*****Dividends from "Inter Brand S.r.l." of €78,759,761 was included

* write-down of €69.4 million of the goodwill of the shares of F.C. Internazionale Milano was included
**minority interests contributed to Internazionale Holding S.r.l. was excluded; goodwill of the shares of F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A. was included